FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM MAY 27, 2021 • THE QUEENS COURIER 17
Jackson Heights’ 34th Avenue Open Streets Compromise
group calls for modifi cation of the program as it stands
BY GABRIELE HOLTERMANN
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
A group of Jackson Heights residents
of the 34th Avenue Open Streets
Compromise gave a voice to some of the
avenue’s residents against the program
as it stands, marching down the popular
open street from Junction Boulevard to
69th Street on Saturday, May 22.
Th ey called on city offi cials to meet
them halfway on the Open Streets initiative
that the City Council inked as permanent
at the beginning
of May. Th e group
agrees that the initiative
served a
purpose during
the height of
the COVID-19
pandemic, allowing
New Yorkers
to enjoy the outdoors
while safely
maintaining a
social distance.
But they also
said that while
34th Avenue,
which is closed off to
traffi c 12 hours a day,
has peak hours of high
activity, the avenue isn’t
used much for outdoor
recreation most of the
time. Th e group believes
that with the availability of sidewalks and
bike lanes, it doesn’t make sense to block
off a two-sided avenue.
Th ey said it’s added to the traffi c pressure
on Northern Boulevard and 35th
Avenue, an argument some Jackson
Heights residents have brought up many
times before during community meetings.
Th e Department of Transportation
(DOT) has previously said they will study
how and if it the Open Street has aff ected
the traffi c Northern Boulevard and surrounding
corridors.
Th e group is also asking to shorten
the length of 34th Avenue’s Open Street,
which currently
spans 26 blocks
along the avenue,
and demand
the DOT conduct
another survey to
fi nd out how the
Open Street initiative
truly aff ects the residents
of the avenue.
DOT conducted a
survey in December
and January that had
more than 2,000 participants
(93 percent
of them from Jackson
Heights and nearby),
and found 45 percent said
they use the avenue daily.
Kathy Farrem, a 40-yearold
Jackson Heights resident,
made it clear that they are not
against Open Streets. However,
she feels that the concerns of
many of the residents weren’t
taken into account when the
City Council voted to make the
Open Streets initiative a permanent
fi xture of city life at the beginning
of May.
She said that many in the community
are seniors without access to computers
and don’t know how to use modern technology,
therefore, they didn’t know about
the online meetings and couldn’t raise
their concerns.
“We have almost a thousand people that
have signed up,” Farrem said about their
group. “So, there are at least a thousand
people in this neighborhood that are not
happy and haven’t really been heard.”
Farrem said they want a compromise,
and want the hours in particular to be
“adjusted.”
Farrem also pointed out that moving
the barriers was especially challenging
for elderly drivers and said that Access-
A-Ride won’t drive up to her neighbor’s
front door anymore and that she has to
walk to the corner to catch her ride.
Carlos Cortes, the president of
Southridge Cooperative Section IV,
a cooperative apartment complex in
Jackson Heights with close to 4,000 residents,
said that none
of the residents were
consulted before the
City Council made the
Open Streets initiative
permanent.
He also took issue
with Assembly member
Jessica González-
Rojas and her support
of turning 34th
Avenue into a linear
park, spearheaded by
34th Avenue Linear Park.
Th e idea has also received
the support of Queens Borough
President Donovan Richards.
But Cortes called it an “audacity”
that González-Rojas, who
he said “fi nally” met with representatives
of 34th Avenue
Compromise on Friday, never
bothered consulting the residents
on 34th Avenue and asked
them for their input.
In response, a spokesperson for
Assemblywoman González-Rojas’ offi ce
said they have met with diff erent stakeholders
about 34th Avenue, including
a representative of the Southridge
Cooperative.
“‘Audacity’ was not one of the words
used during our meeting with the compromise
group, which we felt was respectful
and productive,” the spokesperson told
QNS. “Th e Assembly member made it
clear she wants to hear various perspectives
and listened to several ideas.”
Cortes is concerned that once 34th
Avenue is turned into a park, residents
will have to deal with an infl ux of homeless
people and drug addicts who have
nowhere to go. He is also concerned about
“unlicensed vendors.”
“We’re already starting to see a lot of vendors
like you see on Junction Boulevard. If
they want to have vendors, they should
be able to put them in a specifi c area, you
know, where maybe they have a fl ea market
section, but not the entire avenue. It
should be regulated,” Cortes said. “And
right now, nobody’s talking to their shareholders,
to the people who live here.”
Caroline Flores-Oyola, an organizer
with 34th Avenue Compromise, was part
of the contingency that had a meeting
with González-Rojas on Friday.
Flores-Oyola appreciated that the
assemblywoman took the time to meet
with them but said she felt it “was a little
bit of a, ‘Let’s listen to you because you say
we don’t listen,’ kind of thing.”
Flores-Oyola emphasized that she wants
people to understand that her group —
while against the linear park — is not
“anti-Open Streets,” because everyone
understands and appreciates the benefi ts
of the initiative.
“A lot of our residents are elders. Th ey’re
seniors, and I just think that it’s absurd
that a lot of these people who have bought
their apartments, they are homeowners,
have not been considered in this decision,”
Flores-Oyola said. “So today, we’re
walking for compromise to show that we
do have numbers. We are not a minority.”
William Gorton, who shared that he
doesn’t own a car and depends on public
transportation, didn’t feel a linear park
would benefi t the neighborhood.
“I’ve been here 21 years. A park is normally
a plus. We have a park as part of the
building, which is a plus,” Gorton said. “A
park, which is part of a street, is not a plus.
Th at’s one of the big issues.”
Th irty-fourth Avenue Open Streets,
oft en referenced as a model for what the
program should look like citywide, has
been a popular addition for many other
residents and local elected offi cials in the
area. Last fall, hundreds rallied to not only
make the program permanent but extend
it even more blocks, citing a lack of parks
and open space in the area.
Community meetings to plan the 34th
Avenue Open Streets program sponsored by
DOT and local offi cials took place virtually
in February and March, and are still ongoing.
Additional reporting by Angélica
Acevedo.
Photos by Gabriele Holtermann
Jackson Heights residents march down 34th Avenue on May 22, calling for
a compromise on the Open Streets initiative.
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